What to Institutionalize?
David Lassner (david@hula.its.hawaii.edu)
Sat, 29 Mar 1997 18:32:39 -1000
When all this good stuff gets institutionalized, how can we ensure that it
doesn't itself become the baggage we have to reform? It seems especially
problematic in this business, not just because the technology is changing
so rapidly but because our understanding and ideas about how to use it are
still advancing with no end in sight. As Bob Carlitz commented in one of
the parallel discussions, the "subversive" nature of networking is one of
its most potent aspects.
Sometimes it seems like the things we need most are a spirit of constant
inquiry, the intellectual tools and rigor to support us in making the best
choices we can when the decisions have to be made, a willingness to
reexamine what we fought for with our lives just last year, and the
fortitude and intellectual honesty to change when we're wrong or the world
changes around us.
This may be overstating it, but do we know what it is that we want to
institutionalize and sustain, short term and long term?